Thursday, May 31, 2012

Fast Company ? Creative Thinking Ideas from the 100 Most Creative ...

Following up the previous post on the June 2012 Fast Company list of The 100 Most Creative People in Business 2012, today?s list of creative thinking ideas from the Fast Company issue focus on disruptive and divergent thinking along with suggestions for enhancing your creative perspective. As with the other lists in this series, these creative ideas were inspired by the profiles in Fast Company. My intent was to pull a single creative thinking idea or creative lesson from each of the 100 profiles.

One interesting note about the Fast Company 100 Most Creative People in Business list is that the numbered rankings don?t seem to have any real meaning. At least I draw that conclusion from how certain groups of people who have similar characteristics (i.e., apps developers, two-person teams, fashion industry leaders, etc.) are given consecutive numbered rankings. That would be just TOO much of a creative coincidence.

Despite this indication the numbered rankings are so much hooey, each of the thirty-three creative thinking ideas below references the person whose profile inspired it, along with the person?s number on the 100 Most Creative People in Business list.

Here?s hoping these creative ideas get you thinking?and provide ideas for enhancing your own creative efforts.

Disruptive and Constraint-Based Thinking

What?s your creative imperative ? the one thing that HAS to be part of your creative effort?? - Leslie Berland ? SVP, Digital Partnerships and development, American Express (#6)

What in your past is like what you?re doing today? What did you learn that applies to what you?re doing now?? - Steven Zeitels ? Director, MA General Hospital?s Center for Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Rehabilitation (#14)

When evaluating data or an idea, challenge what?s being presented from the completely opposite point of view to determine how strong the strategic thinking is.? - Rebecca Van Duck ? Head of Consumer Marketing, Facebook (#2)

What are multiple ways you can create more strategic connections than anyone else does?? ? Garet Hil ? Founder, National Kidney Registry (#9)

Compile and share information to connect separate audiences who don?t have any basis to talk to each other right now.? - Ma Jun, Director ? Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (#1)

Take on creative initiatives that allow you to collect massive amounts of data you can mine to direct your own organization or sell to others. For Foursquare, it?s about connecting information on people, places, and time-specific actions.? - Alex Rainert ? Head of Product, Foursquare (#77)

How can you substitute easier processes for the hard parts your audience deals with every day?? - Ben Horowitz ? Cofounder, Andreesen Horowitz (#8)

For cool ideas and design to be successful, they can?t be embarrassing to wear or use.? - Steve Lee ? Product Management Director, Google [X] (#20)

If you?re facing creative detractors, how can you create creative baby steps they?ll find more acceptable for getting started?? - Maelle Gavet ? CEO, Ozon Holdings (#10)

Innovate with only things that already exist in your business. Put together new combinations from pre-existing elements.? - Adam Brotman ? Chief Digital Officer, Starbucks (#3)

Invite people to exercise their creative talents . . . maybe no one has ever asked them about creativity before?? - Rosario Dawson & Maria Teresa Kumar ? Founders, VotoLatino (#12)

Find a compelling motivation (and the associated process) to allow customers to commit to purchases earlier than they might now to make it practical to buy things that would never make it to market on spec.? - Aslaug Magnusdottir ? Cofounder, CEO, Moda Operandi (#78)

Apply design and pleasing aesthetic principles to the most necessary, thankless, and joyless tasks humans have to do to raise the creative energy from them.? - Jessica Alba ? Cofounder, The Honest Company (#17)

Consider every interaction as a performance and allow the audience to participate, shape the outcome, and leave with the results.? - Bj?rk ? Musician (#36)

Creative Thinking Perspectives

Design isn?t a liner process, so incorporating strategic thinking is vital to successfully handling a problem that doesn?t have a nice, neat structure.? - Matthew Schmidt ? Assistant Professor of Political Science, School of Advanced Military Studies (#22)

Be okay when the first examples of your creative work aren?t what you expected.? - Wes Anderson ? Director, Moonrise Kingdom (#28)

Go do the equivalent of whatever ?biking around the neighborhood? would be in your market and soak up the inspiration from a different perspective than you have before.? ? Marcus Samuelsson ? Chef, Owner, Red Rooster (#90)

Throw out how you usually categorize things and come up with a completely different categorization approach.? - Ron Johnson ? CEO, JCPenney (#4)

Defy the creative rules of your world while still delivering a cohesive creative whole.? - Kin Ying Lee ? Creative Director, Madewell (#31)

Don?t be afraid to call someone?s bluff and create what they say you can?t or shouldn?t do.? - Marvin Ammori ? Lawyer, The Ammori Group (#32)

What incredibly worthwhile activities are hiding behind the ?scary monsters? in your world?? ? Tim Schafer ? Founder, Double Fine Productions (#39)

Explicitly pick a time or point in your life and use it as a reference to solve creative or design problems faced now.? - Ken Parks ? Chief Content Office, Spotify (#33)

Create so that what you?re creating is ?stunning? to at least one of the senses.? - Di?b?do Francis K?r? ? Architect, K?r? Architecture (#34)

What would an experience look like that is destined to ?disturb the universe??? ? Ross Martin ? Executive VP, MTV Scratch (#46)

How can you use your creativity to add more serenity to your customers? lives?? - Leah Busque ? Founder, TaskRabbit (#42)

What would you change about your product to make it more inviting to people?? ? Deborah Borda ? CEO, Los Angeles Philharmonic (#44)

How would Sesame Street (or Romper Room, if you?re old enough to remember it) teach new things to people who think they?re too old to learn new things?? ? Bruktawit Tigabu ? Founder, Director, Whiz Kids Workshop (#45)

Change the natural order that things happen to spark innovative ideas, i.e. What if you focused a picture after it?s taken?? - Ren Ng ? Founder, CEO, Lytro (#70)

Get out of the office or conference room and go look around at people, places, and things both relevant and tangential to your creative objective.? ? Rick Barrack ? Chief Creative Officer, CBX (#79)

Not everyone that makes the ?Fast Company 100 Most Creative People in Business? list has a strong enough profile to yield even one creative inspiration of substance.? ? Chris Milk ? Director (#83)

What are you doing today to make your product, business, or market wildly controversial? Are you doing enough?? - Rufus Griscom ? Cofounder, General Manager, Babble Media (#88)

Think Africa. ?There?s something really exciting about the word . . . It evokes an emotion in everyone.?? - Tal Dehtiar ? Founder, Oliberte Footwear (#96)

Who would you fire if you fired co-workers or clients that aren?t good for your business?? - Jimmy Smith ? Chairman, CEO, Chief Creative Officer, Amusement Park Entertainment (#43)??-?Mike Brown

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Gigabyte makes 975g X11 official, claims 'world's lightest' 11.6-inch notebook (update: hands-on video)

Gigabyte makes 975g X11 official, claims 'world's lightest' 11.6-inch notebook

Well hello there again, Gigabyte X11. Hot on the heels of yesterday's leak, Gigabyte's just made its 11.6-inch X11 laptop (or is that an Ultrabook?) official. At 975g (2.15 pounds) it claims the title of "lightest notebook on earth" -- and weighs even less on Mars. Design-wise, you're looking at a 16.5mm (0.65 inches) to 3mm (0.19 inches) thin Macbook Air-like body made of real carbon fiber (!) with an aluminum hinge. Under the hood you'll find unspecified third generation Intel Core processors (read Ivy Bridge), 4GB of DDR3 RAM, Mobile Intel HM77 Express chipset with Intel HD Graphics 4000, a 128GB SSD, WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0.

Ports include power, USB 2.0 and mini DisplayPort on the left side plus microSD, combo audio and USB 3.0 on the right. While the specs also mention gigabit Ethernet, there's no sign of it anywhere in the press shots. The display is a 1366x768-pixel LED-backlit affair dotted with a 1.3 megapixel webcam. A chiclet keyboard, buttonless trackpad and 4730mAh 7.4V Li-ion polymer battery (likely sealed) complete the package. There's no word on availability, but prices will range from $999 to $1299 with Windows 7 Home Premium and Professional in tow. Expect more information when we get our hands on this sexy beast at Computex next week.

Update: Our colleagues over at Engadget Chinese just got to spend some time with this svelte black slab. Take a look at the gallery below and hit the break for the hands-on video.

In addition, Gigabyte's announcing two 14-inch laptops -- the U2442 and U2440 -- which feature third generation Intel Core processors and NVIDIA GeForce graphics. Unfortunately, we're still busy drooling all over the X11 gallery, so we'll direct you to the full PR after the break for the complete details.

Andy Yang contributed to this report.

Continue reading Gigabyte makes 975g X11 official, claims 'world's lightest' 11.6-inch notebook (update: hands-on video)

Gigabyte makes 975g X11 official, claims 'world's lightest' 11.6-inch notebook (update: hands-on video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 May 2012 03:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Angelina Jolie helps launch UK fight against rape

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Australian Magento Developers - Internet Based Business Articles

One of the features in demand in Magento is the ability to have featured products. Other features are site management, marketing promotions and tools, Catalogue Management tool, Multi-address Shipping, Order Management tool, Payments feature and many more offering your business a striking niche in the online market.

One of the features in demand is the ability to have featured products. Commerce, Zen Cart or some other shopping cart solutions are user friendly as they give you the freedom to customise the appearance, content and functionality of your online store with the combined facility of expanding it with the passage of time. This is how it is known to be a highly modifiable and feature rich application for web developers.

Rich features have made Magento developers magnificent, open source e-commerce solution software, in technology. It is highly professional open-source commerce solution providing complete flexibility and control over the look, content, and functionality of the store making the store keeper or owner hassle free. Strong marketing, search engine optimisation and catalogue-management of Magneto tools offer owners the power to create commerce as per their unique business needs. commerce- offers all services to give you the optimum benefits of Magento.

This results in booming your online business. The other exquisite feature of Magento is multi-store retailing as it makes website owners to reach a wide array of customers. Catalogue Management tool is enabled with several advanced options. Viewing and managing catalogues is no longer a clumsy affair. It?s Multi-address Shipping tool provides you the freedom to customize rates specifically the way you want it to be seen by customers.

Site Management helps you to have total control on many websites and online stores from one single Administration Panel. Marketing and Promotion tool increases conversion rates by formulating diverse promotions ideas and increase your conversion rates.

Catalogue Management tool is enabled with several advanced options. Viewing and managing catalogues is no longer a clumsy affair. Magento?s Multi-address Shipping tool provides you the freedom to customize rates specifically the way you want it to be seen by customers. The Order Management tool, allows you to have view orders, create invoice or receipt for Sales Orders and credit memos for your clients. All these features has made it possible in a short time, a boom in online business.

Engage made Magento developers to ensure your Magento site performs well.

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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

McLaren Automotive opens McLaren Jeddah in Al Ghassan Motors ...

The McLaren showroom, part of Al Ghassan Motors new retail complex in the sophisticated residential and shopping district of Tahliah Street, is a fitting venue for the British brand, which has now launched four of its six Middle East showrooms.

Commenting on the launch, Harrison said: "McLaren has firmly established its presence in Saudi Arabia today with the opening of McLaren Jeddah; the new showroom provides our customers and fans with an impressive facility where they can see our debut model the MP4 -12C, and soak up some of the McLaren brand values. In particular, our attention to detail and focus on performance and exceptional customer service."

Visitors will be able to see the first 'pure' McLaren production road car, the MP4-12C. The debut model will be joined within a year by the second of McLaren's planned model line-up, with a full range of McLaren sports cars in place within three or four years.

The 12C draws upon the company's longstanding Formula 1 experience and features a number of unique and innovative features that help make it the world's fastest and most efficient high performance sports car in its segment: the world's only one-piece, moulded carbon chassis; a lightweight, highly efficient 592bhp V8 twin turbo engine; and an innovative 'Proactive Chassis Control' suspension system that allows drivers to switch between ultimate track performance and optimum road comfort.

Alongside the 12C in McLaren Jeddah's new showroom is the iconic McLaren Formula 1 car, MP4/13. Dominating the 1998 season the car went on to win nine Grands Prix and produced a first World Drivers' Championship for Formula 1 legend Mika Hakkinen along with the World Constructors Championship and 12 pole positions for the team.

Sheikh Ghassan A H Al Sulaiman commented: "We are proud to welcome McLaren Automotive as a partner in the Al Ghassan stable of automotive brands. As an innovative and forward thinking brand with a rich racing heritage, McLaren also values customer service, and, I believe, will offer an exciting new choice in this market for our discerning customers in Saudi Arabia."

Al Ghassan Motors is one of an initial 35 retailers appointed worldwide to sell its range of high-performance, premium sports cars, starting with the ground-breaking MP4-12C. As a specialist in luxury automotive cars, Al Ghassan Motors brings a wealth of experience and an extensive knowledge of the Saudi Arabia market to McLaren.

The Middle East is a key market for McLaren Automotive. In addition to the three showrooms already open in Abu Dhabi and Dubai (Al Habtoor Motors) and Kuwait (Ali Alghanim & Sons), the company's full regional network will include retailers in Doha (Al Wajba Establishment) and Manama (Al Ghassan Motors). There is also a service centre in Beirut (Saad & Trad Sal).

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Video: Fighting the Fear Trade

Discussing whether fear over Europe is driving the markets now, with CNBC's Courtney Reagan, Rick Santelli & Maria Bartiromo.

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Interactive Outdoor Ad Startup smartDIGITAL Raises $2.7M

elevate_outdoorsmartDIGITAL, a startup that makes interactive ad displays, has raised $2.7 million in a Series A round of funding. smartDIGITAL displays are already available in Chicago and Miami, says co-founder and CEO George Burciaga, with plans to roll them out to 10 markets over the next 36 months. They're essentially large kiosks with multi-touch screens that allow consumers to interact with an ad rather than simply staring at it as they walk or drive by. The goal, Burciaga says, is to "inspire them to do something" ? whether it's sharing a photo, purchasing a Groupon deal (yes, Groupon is a partner), or emailing something to their phone. That means the consumer is more engaged, and it also means the advertiser has a better idea about whether their ads are actually working.

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Cloudy China reform outlook a worry for European firms

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Photos | MTV Buzzworthy Blog: Justin Bieber's 'Believe' Promo Shots

MTV Buzzworthy Blog: Justin Bieber's 'Believe' Promo Shots

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Tim Cook joined Apple because even 'when customers got mad at Apple, they'd continue to buy'

Tim Cook joined Apple because even 'when customers got mad at Apple, they'd continue to buy'

It's epic storytelling time at AllThingsD 10 as audience Q&A has begun, with Apple CEO Tim Cook opening up on why he came to join the company in the first place in response to a question from Lance Ulanoff of Mashable. To hear him tell it, an executive search firm came calling and he wasn't pressed -- until five minutes into his meeting with Steve Jobs. We'll let him tell it:

It was a very interesting meeting. Steve had hired an executive search firm to find someone to run operations. They kept calling, and eventually I said 'Okay, I'll talk.' I flew out Friday on a redeye for a Saturday morning meeting with Steve. The honest-to-God truth, five minutes into the conversation I wanted to join Apple. I was shocked. Why did I want to do it? He painted a story and a strategy that he was taking Apple deep into consumer when I knew others were doing the exact opposite. I never thought following the herd was brilliant. He told me a bit about what would late be named the iMac, and I saw brilliance in that. I saw someone unaffected with money, and that has always impressed me when people do indeed have it. Those three things to me to throw caution to the wind and do it. I went back, and resigned immediately.

Did I see the iPad and iPhone? No. What I saw was this: Apple was the only technology company that I knew of, including the one I was currently at, that when a customer got mad at a company, they'd continue to buy. If people got mad at Compaq, they'd buy Dell. If you were mad at Dell, you'd buy IBM. But an Apple customer was a unique breed; there's this emotion that you just don't see in technology in general. You could see it and feel it at Apple. When I looked at the balance sheet of the company, I thought I could do something in turning around a great American company.

Whether you call it the reality distortion field or simply a strong brand attachment, it was enough, along with Steve Jobs' vision, to lure Tim Cook to work at Apple even when things weren't going so well back in 1998. Can he keep the shield generators running as CEO? Time will tell.

Tim Cook joined Apple because even 'when customers got mad at Apple, they'd continue to buy' originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 May 2012 22:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tuesday, May 29, 2012

1.2 million iOS 5.1.1 devices jailbroken with Absinthe 2.0

The Absinthe 2.0 jailbreak is now responsible for jailbreaking more than 1.2 million iOS 5.1.1 devices since its release on Friday. The Absinthe 2.0 jailbreak supports nearly every iOS device, including the iPhone 4S and the just-released new iPad.


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Android apps of the day [May 27, 2012]

Today's Apps

  • Smart Launcher [Automatically save shortcuts to your favorite apps in a folder for easy access]
  • Android Pro Widgets [Widgets pack that comes with widgets for Agenda & Calendar, Contacts, Bookmarks, Messaging, Facebook, Twitter, and Google Reader]
  • Meta Widget [Homescreen widget that parses and displays any content from a website]

Subscribe to our Android section to never miss an article: RSS Feed | E-mail

About Android Apps of the Day

Android has over 450,000 apps. With so many apps out there, app discovery (aka finding new and useful apps) is extremely difficult. With our Android Apps of the Day initiative, dotTech aims to change that. Everyday we post three apps, allowing our readers to discover new apps, daily. Enjoy! [Subscribe to our Android section to never miss an article: RSS Feed | E-mail]

Developers: Click here to get your apps featured here!

dotTechies: Want to see an app on here? Send us a tip!

Apps for May 27, 2012

Smart Launcher

Smart Launcher is not a homescreen replace or apps launcher app. Smart Launcher is an app that automatically places your 'favorite' (most used) apps in a folder on your homescreen, allowing you to easily launch them whenever desired. The key here is "automatically". Smart Launcher uses a "proprietary algorithm" (which, apparently, has a patent pending) that analyzes your app usage behavior and determines what are your most used apps. The algorithm updates in real-time as your app usage activity changes. The goal of this algorithm is to find and list your favorite apps in a folder making it easy for you to launch those apps from a consolidated Smart Launcher folder.

In addition to listing favorite apps, Smart Launcher shows 'Recently Opened' apps, a list that allows you to manually add apps, and a list that shows recently installed apps.

If you like using widgets, Smart Launcher has a 4x1 widget that displays the four most used apps of the day.

Take note the developer specifies it takes a few days for Smart Launcher to accurately note favorite apps, so give it some time before passing judgment on the quality of this app.

Price: Free

Version discovered: v1.4.4

Requires: Android 1.6 and up

Download size: 515 KB

Smart Launcher on Play Store

Android Pro Widgets

There are many widget packs out there, with the most popular being Beautiful Widgets. Android Pro Widgets is a widget pack that differs from other packs. Instead of offering weather widgets, etc. Android Pro Widgets has widgets for bookmarks, calendar, Facebook, messaging, contacts, and Twitter, Google Reader, and a special 'Timeline' widget which requires purchase of APW License Key. The widgets come in varying sizes, ranging from 2x4 all the way to 4x4 and everything in between (by default only specific sizes are enabled but you have the ability to manually enable other sizes via Android Pro Widgets' settings).

If you purchase APW License Key, you get the ability to theme Android Pro Widgets with free themes available on Play Store such as 'APW Theme Halo'.

Price: Free, $2.42

Version discovered: v1.2.8

Requires: Android 2.1 and up

Download size: 2.8 MB

Android Pro Widgets on Play Store | APW License Key on Play Store

Meta Widget

Meta Widget is an interesting, unique widget for Android. What Meta Widget does is it allows you to display any web page content in a widget (1x1-4x4) on your homescreen. The content can be text, images, charts, pictures, Facebook pages, etc. -- you just need to point Meta Widget to the web page containing the content you want to parse and select that content. After that Meta Widget shows you a preview of the widget and allows you to customize widget settings, such as text alignment, background, widget title, etc.

Because of its nature, Meta Widget isn't perfect -- it won't perfectly parse the content from every website. However, it is a very interesting concept that definitely deserves a try.

Meta Widget has a free and paid version. Free version has all features except automatic updates; Meta Widget Key (the pro version) adds the automatic update functionality.

Price: Free, $1.99

Version discovered: v1.0.2.6

Requires: Android 2.1 and up

Download size: 617 KB

Meta Widget on Play Store | Meta Widget Key on Play Store

dotTechies: We have tested all the apps listed above. However, Android Apps of the Day articles are not intended as "reviews" but rather as "heads-up" to help you discover new apps. Always use your best judgement when downloading apps, such as trying trial/free versions before purchasing paid apps, if applicable.

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BP Committed to Developing TAP, Executive ... - LNG World News

BP Committed to Developing TAP, Executive Says

BP of UK, the operator of the Shah Deniz natural gas field in Azerbaijan, expressed its commitment to developing the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) as the southern gas transportation route into Europe.

Speaking at the BP Forum in Berlin, on Thursday, Iain Conn, Chief Executive Refining and Marketing at BP, reaffirmed the company?s commitment to work together with TAP and the governments of the transit countries to obtain the necessary permits and approvals for the project: ?The Shah Deniz partners have been looking at two basic options within the EU market. The first is the southern route through Greece and Albania to Italy. The second is into the markets of south-eastern and central Europe.?

Conn clarified that the EU Member States and the European Commission have recognised in November 2011 that ?where the gas flows from the border of the EU single market is and should be a matter for normal commercial decisions.

Shah Deniz partners recently selected the Trans Adriatic Pipeline for the southern option to Italy. Exclusive negotiations are now in progress with TAP and there is no possibility of continuing with the Interconnector Turkey/Greece/Italy (ITGI) project to carry Azeri gas. Nabucco West and the South East Europe Pipeline (SEEP) are currently competing for the south-eastern and central European route.

?If Italy wishes to import Southern Corridor gas, it will need to be through the TAP project. And we are committed to working with the Italian, Greek and Albanian governments, and with TAP, to gain all the required regulatory approvals and permits to make this pipeline option a success.?

The Shah Deniz consortium partners are currently evaluating the submissions made on the 16th of May by Nabucco West and SEEP and will select their preferred option by end of June 2012. A final market and route selection between TAP and the winner of the South-Eastern and Central European route is expected before June 2013.

?I should emphasize again that all of these options have strategic value and offer the necessary scope for scalability as future gas supplies become available. There is no pre-determined winner, the competition is fully open and there is still everything to play for?, added Conn.


LNG World News Staff, May 28, 2012; Image: BP

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Massive Banner Advertising Mistakes You Need To Avoid | weicome ...

Posted on 29-05-2012 by admin

It?s no joke at all that banner advertising is powerful; you can send massive targeted traffic to your site and do what you want with it. It doesn?t matter at all that lots of people have forgotten about banner advertising because of Google and Bing, that?s fine for all the banner advertisers out there. Why do you think huge corporations and media outlets spend millions on banner advertising each month? Never think banner ads are going away, and they shouldn?t because they still work! Lots of people make costly mistakes with banner ads, and while some may not be avoidable many others can be avoided.

And that would mean a loss of money and an investment gone wrong. So here we go ? how to side-step typical newbie banner advertising mistakes.

Ok, you?re going for banner advertising ? yay ? but, when you create campaigns you have to also think of your campaign and include your landing page when you make banners. All prospects are selfish, even you and me, when we?re on the hunt for something; what that means is they?re not concerned about the images on your banner ? they want to know how they will benefit from your offer. It?s just that you need to deliver the goods that you mentioned on your banner. Get that promise wrong and you?re making a huge mistake that will represent a waste of money unless you learn your lesson. It?s a pretty stupid simple concept, but people make this mistake ? and now you know how to avoid it.

On the other hand, we do suggest that you avoid making your banners too ?busy? with too much in them. Your message needs to be very clear and easy to understand. If you?re branding your company, we recommend testing with and without your logo because people can see your logo on your site ? but test.

You know banner ads don?t allow for much space, so you really have to choose wisely how you use that space. You must hit their hot buttons right away, so be short and concise with your copy. Did you see the possibilities for what can be done in your web business? One thing is certain, though, and that is perhaps 99% of any kind of online venture can stand to have more promotional methods put to work. Perhaps the worst thing any business owner can do is start taking success for granted and becoming ungrateful for it. So do not allow that to happen to you, and we talk about expanding marketing efforts all the time for that reason. You can learn how to use AppEmpire in your business and become profitable, of course, but forget autopilot internet riches and keep working hard as well as smarter. If you want to build a long-term business on the web, then you have to be the business person and maintain your dedication while you continue to prosper.

Last but not the least; as an advertiser you should be aware of the basic metrics such as the size of your ads. If you don?t have knowledge about this, then you?ll be in for some hassle. It?s because when you run your banner ads, publishers will want to know clear cut specifications from you in relation to your banner?s size, which would be the length, the size and the weight. Since you?ll be dealing with people all around the world, just stick to a standard called, IAB, and you shouldn?t have any problems. Like we said, banner advertising isn?t hard to do, and there?s much information available that you can read. Once you know the ins and outs of banner advertising you?ll be able to tap into the massive power of this promotional medium and get as much targeted traffic as you want. It is important to avoid getting impatient with the process because it dos take just a little of time.

This entry was posted in general and tagged business, make money online, marketing, work from home.

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Canada's jobs comeback? Too good to be true

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada created a stunning 140,000 jobs in just two months this year, the most in 30 years and a source of pride for a government bragging that the economy has got its moxie back.

But scratch the surface of the official data, and stir in a few secondary figures, and the picture looks far less upbeat.

Canada is definitely creating jobs, but the figures are volatile at the best of times. There's also been an increase in involuntary part-time work, a decline in employment quality and a fall in real wages.

Experts say the heavy hiring in the construction industry - the main factor underpinning jobs growth in March and April - is not sustainable, and layoffs there, along with thousands of public sector dismissals, will dampen employment and drive up the jobless rate.

"I view these last two months as anomalies," said David Gray, an economist at the University of Ottawa who specializes in labor market policy.

Gray predicts continued unevenness and conditions that create "winners and losers" in the labor market, widening the income distribution gap.

Canada recovered from recession-era job losses far faster than Europe or the United States, winning back the 400,000 jobs lost in the slowdown by January 2011 as the economy bounced back from a recession that was also milder than the U.S. one.

BUST TO BOOM

But the jobs juggernaut slowed to a crawl by mid-2011 as economic growth slowed, and suddenly Canada was the weakling compared to the U.S. Its economy added just 7,000 net new jobs from July-December.

The unexpectedly strong job gains in March and April - the equivalent of 1.3 million jobs in the far bigger U.S. economy - flipped that downturn round again in a bust-to-boom swing that Benjamin Tal, senior economist at CIBC World Markets, described as dizzying.

"We have to be smart about it and focus on the trend because you cannot have negative numbers and then an 80,000 change in one month," said Tal, who favors looking at a six-month trend. "It's ridiculous. It's not telling the story."

May jobs figures are due on June 8.

Canada's most-watched jobs figures come from the labor force survey, released a few days after the end of the month, and based on interviews with 56,000 households.

A separate report on payroll employment, earnings and hours is based on data from businesses - similar to the main U.S. payrolls data - and appears with a six-week delay.

And the nature of the household survey means the main Canadian figures are particularly prone to sampling error.

April job growth came in at a confidence-building 58,200. But there's a 68 percent chance that the actual figure was between 29,600 and 86,800, and a 5 percent chance that it could be below 1,000, or above 115,400.

The household and payrolls surveys reports usually show a similar trend. But in the three months from December to February, the household survey showed a gain of 5,700 jobs while the payrolls data showed a loss of 6,000 jobs.

THE GOLDILOCKS NUMBER

Tal calculates job creation at about 22,000 new posts a month on average. "The trend is showing that we're slowing but we're not crashing by any stretch of the imagination," he said.

The recent volatility in the figures has raised eyebrows from the experts, and Stefane Marion, chief economist at National Bank Financial, wants Statscan to release the two jobs reports simultaneously so people can cross-check the data.

Late last year, Marion was at a loss to explain why Quebec, the country's biggest province by area, appeared to be hemorrhaging jobs at a rate that could only mean a severe recession while other indicators suggested a healthy economy.

The confusion, which came as federal and provincial governments were drafting their budgets, could have influenced fiscal and monetary policy, Marion argues.

"It came at a time when Europe was going downhill and so people were saying 'oh, the recession is here now,'" he said.

The Quebec job numbers eventually bounced back, but by then Marion and others had learned to treat the monthly data with a healthy amount of caution.

INVOLUNTARY PART-TIMERS

The underlying trends from the data are also less strong than the headline numbers. In one sign of slack, about 10 percent of part-time workers could not find a full-time job, down from 2010 but well above the pre-recession level of about 6.5 percent.

Canada's unemployment rate at 7.3 percent is 1.3 percentage points higher than its 2008 trough and 1.4 million workers were unemployed in April compared with 1.1 million before the crisis.

The U.S. jobless rate is 8.1 percent, although not really comparable because of different methodologies.

Wages are another indication the market is not booming. They rose 2.3 percent in 2011 while inflation was 2.9 percent. In 2008, wages grew 5 percent.

The employment rate, the measure of people with jobs relative to the overall population, is 61.9 percent. The rate was above 63 percent in the two years prior to the crisis when the labor market was very buoyant.

Finally, the quality of jobs being created has deteriorated from 18 months ago, according to CIBC's Employment Quality Index which looks at full-time versus part-time jobs, self-employment versus paid employment and comparative wages across 100 sectors.

"One of the reasons we look at the quality is the fact that the number of new jobs is really the tip of the iceberg," said Tal. "Any information about what is happening in this black box is actually good."

(Reporting By Louise Egan; Editing by Janet Guttsman)

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Monday, May 28, 2012

Check in married and then check out single

The American marriage, it seems, is on the rocks. The common line ? true or not ? is that half of all marriages in this country end in divorce.

So here comes a plucky entrepreneur from, of all places, the Netherlands, with a wild, you?ve-got-to-be-joking plan to profit from the sorry state of so many American unions.

It?s called Divorce Hotel, and the idea is this: Check in on Friday, married. Then, with the help of mediators and independent lawyers, check out on Sunday, divorce papers in hand, all for a flat fee.

And ? why not? ? toss in some reality TV for good measure.

Unusual as it sounds, the Divorce Hotel concept is up and running in the Netherlands, where its mastermind, Jim Halfens, is helping unhappy marrieds divorce en suite. Seventeen couples have tried it so far. All but one left divorce-ready.

Now Mr. Halfens, 33, wants to take the idea to the United States. He is negotiating with hotels in several cities, including New York and Los Angeles, as well as with law firms and, yes, two television production companies ? for a reality show.

American divorce lawyers roll their eyes. Sure, ?Divorce Hotel? sounds catchy. But most breakups are too complicated ? or, frankly, too acrimonious ? to be worked out in a cozy hotel room somewhere.

Robert S. Cohen, the lawyer who helped guide Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Christie Brinkley, Ivana Trump and other A-listers to splitsville, says he wishes he?d thought of the idea. It?s a great gimmick, he says ? but as a practical matter, he adds, it probably wouldn?t work for most couples, let alone for the well-heeled types he advises.

It might if a couple were still friends and their financial arrangements were straightforward, he says. But in his view, it?s unlikely to work for complicated cases involving, say, significant property or business holdings, complex stock options or offshore accounts that must be traced or assessed.

?The notion of being able to ? at the beginning of a split-up ? spend a weekend putting these various pieces together and coming to a solution to them would be virtually impossible,? Mr. Cohen says. ?I don?t see how one would do it and come up with a fair result.?

He notes that divorce proceedings are often a highly emotional time for couples. ?And the notion they?re now going to spend two days with each other at some fancy hotel seems to me not to be a very likely scenario,? he says. ?Most people getting divorced don?t want to see each other again except when they have to.?

Mr. Cohen would be the first to tell you that divorce is big business these days. In the United States alone, estimates of what might be called the divorce industry range from $50 billion to $175 billion a year, depending on what costs are included. (Lawyers, after all, are only the beginning.) More than 1.2 million people in the United States filed for divorce in 2009, the most recent year for which data are available, according to the National Center for State Courts.

Mr. Halfens came up with the idea for Divorce Hotel after watching a college friend go through a painful divorce.

?He was losing weight, he was unable to have fun in life anymore and they were fighting every time you saw them ? it was horrible,? Mr. Halfens says of his friend. The divorce negotiations dragged on for five months, he says ? not all that long, by American standards.

?I was convinced there has to be another way,? Mr. Halfens says.

So, drawing on a background in marketing, as well as a stint at a law firm, he opened Divorce Hotel. And, by the way, it isn?t just a single hotel. Mr. Halfens has struck agreements with six high-end hotels in the Netherlands, most of which are reluctant to be seen as the Divorce Hotel, or even to divulge that they participate in the program.

Couples stay in separate rooms. A suite is used for mediation talks. Hotel staff members receive special instructions ? and are told that these are no ordinary guests. ?You don?t want the hotel crew wishing you a very nice weekend and hoping you have lots of fun here,? says Mr. Halfens, who evaluates couples first, to enhance the odds of success.

Divorce Hotel charges a flat fee of $3,500 to $10,000, depending on the complexity of a couple?s financial arrangements. Divorces in the United States tend to cost $5,000 to $20,000, though the cost can soar depending on the assets involved, the case?s complexity and, perhaps most crucially, whether child custody is an issue, according to Randall M. Kessler, chairman of the American Bar Association?s family law section.

Child custody battles and cases involving complex financial arrangements, such as self-owned businesses and stock options, tend to be the costliest, he says, with fees often exceeding $100,000 from each party.

Once the couple check out, they need only show the papers to a judge to have their divorce made final. Of course, marriage laws vary from state to state, which is why Mr. Halfens is in talks with law firms and hotels in different states.

Last September, a 44-year-old computer consultant in the Netherlands checked into a Divorce Hotel with his wife. He spoke on the condition that his full name not be used, to protect their privacy.

Both had been through divorces before. The first time, he says, he lost the equivalent of $30,000 just on lawyer and court costs. The process took a year.

?There was a lot of fighting ? not by us, but our lawyers,? he recalls. ?Every letter her attorney wrote had to be answered by mine. That financially ruined me.?

He and his second wife wanted to end their seven-year marriage on friendly terms. ?We were both divorced before and we both experienced a lot of pain and misery,? he says.

So they opted for the Divorce Hotel ? and were thrilled with the results. On his divorce weekend, he says, they went out on the town for dinner and wine. ?It wasn?t weird or wrong,? he says, ?We felt great ? like friends.?

Mr. Halfens tells the story of one couple who got along so well during the weekend talks that the mediator wondered whether they would reconcile. ?They were so positive that they went to the beach together,? he says. Ultimately, though, they pressed on with the divorce. Another time, a couple shared their final night together in the hotel?s honeymoon suite.

?We were a bit flabbergasted,? Mr. Halfens says. That couple, too, ended up divorcing.

Mr. Halfens has big plans for Divorce Hotel. He?s written a book, due out next year, and says that in addition to the hotels in the United States, he has talked to hotels in Britain, Italy and Germany about hosting his program.

Under his agreements with the two American production companies, Base Productions and A. Smith & Company, some couples would be followed and filmed as they go through Divorce Hotel.

Mickey Stern, co-chief executive of Base Productions, says he jumped at the chance to produce a show around Divorce Hotel. ?These are real people getting real divorces ? or at least attempting to get real divorces ? and it has all of the human drama of this significant process all condensed down into a very short period of time,? Mr. Stern says. Given the number of people who get divorces in the United States ? and the possibility for some TV fireworks ? the audience could be huge, he says.

?Divorce Hotel is as real as it gets,? he says. ?If there?s a conflict, it?s real because the stakes are real.? He says he expects the show to have its debut this fall, although he declined to name the network.

Television aside, could Divorce Hotel really work here? Mr. Cohen, the divorce lawyer, says the courts are so backed up with cases that people are moving toward mediation and arbitration to end marriages, at least when huge sums of money or child custody are not at stake.

But, like Mr. Cohen, Jason Marks, a divorce lawyer in Miami, says complex cases cannot be resolved in a weekend. And some people may do all sorts of things when a marriage runs into trouble: hide money, undervalue assets, perpetrate fraud.

?That happens all the time,? Mr. Marks says. It takes time ? and expensive lawyers ? to sort it all out.

Mr. Halfens concedes that only one of every three couples that apply for his program is accepted. His team tries to ensure that both parties want to divorce and are willing to work with a mediator. If the couple is bickering or barely speaking to each other, or if greed or vengeance seems to be a motivation, the couple is rejected.

Mr. Halfens, who is not married, has already invited Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher to Divorce Hotel, he says. They?re a perfect fit, in his view, since they?ve indicated they want to end their six-year marriage on friendly terms.

He hasn?t heard back.

This story, "Quick Getaways, at the Divorce Hotel," originally appeared in The New York Times.

Copyright ? 2012 The New York Times

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Think Congress is sophomoric? A study says you're right

WASHINGTON?

? If it sounds like the debates in Congress have devolved into those of teenagers, it's because they have.

Discourse in the House and Senate has dropped a full grade level ? to the equivalent of high school sophomore, according to a new study.

Call this the dumbing down of Congress in a partisan age. Or a shift to plain-spoken populism ignited by the new class of tea party Republicans.

But what has become clear in the new research is that the soaring oratory that once filled the floors of the House and Senate with million-dollar diction and sophisticated syntax is making way for a more modest approach.

"Congress is changing as an institution, and what you see is more and more members gearing their speeches as sound bites or YouTube clips," said Lee Drutman, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation, which compiled the study released Monday.

"You can [hark] back to a golden age of Congress when members quoted Shakespeare on the floor and really engaged in debate and talked to each other and tried to reason back and forth," he said.

Consider Everett M. Dirksen, the legendary Republican senator from Illinois, who defended a civil rights bill in 1964 by paraphrasing 19th century French writer Victor Hugo: "Stronger than all the armies is an idea whose time has come."

But that was then.

In an analysis of floor debates over the last several years, the study found that newer lawmakers tended to speak at a lower grade level than the veterans of congressional speechifying.

And political moderates among both Republicans and Democrats tended to carry on at a higher grade level than those more partisan liberals or conservatives.

With that framework in mind, it should come as no surprise that the lawmakers at the bottom of the list, speaking at the lowest grade level, are among the most ardent tea party Republicans in the freshman class. Rep. Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, Rep. Robert Woodall of Georgia and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky were the bottom three ? speaking at about an eighth-grade level, the study found.

"We look at it as a badge of honor," said Mulvaney, a graduate of Georgetown University and the University of North Carolina Law School, who notes that he often speaks on the floor "extemporaneously."

"It's a conscious decision on my part. We are trying to be clear and trying to be concise," he added. He said he and his wife had been known to diagram sentences at the dinner table, a byproduct of having schoolteacher parents.

"I can explain the difference between 'fewer' and 'less,'" Mulvaney said, but he acknowledged that he still stumbled over the difference between "farther" and "further."

"I don't think people see the polysyllabic words ? or the number of words ? in a sentence as a sign of your intelligence," he said.

As a case in point, he cites fellow Republican Rep. Dan Lungren of Gold River, a seasoned politician who topped the list as the lawmaker with the highest level of speech ? that of a college senior.

That makes Lungren almost a throwback ? on par with the Federalist Papers (a 17.1 grade level) or the U.S. Constitution (17.8 grade level) ? though it is not clear his speeches are easier to understand.

"The canard that somehow we are tearing the Constitution up just does not stand any kind of inquiry whatsoever," Lungren said during a debate over the Patriot Act. "The suggestion that somehow we are invading the civil liberties of citizens is negated by the language in the three sections of the bill that we have before us."

Californians ranked among the better spoken overall, and the No. 2 slot went to Rep.Lucille Roybal-Allard(D-East Los Angeles), at almost a 16th-grade level. Her skills were on display during last week's debate on a GOP version of the Violence Against Women Act that Democrats largely opposed.

"I cannot in good conscience vote to pass this version of VAWA, as it erases 18 years of bipartisan efforts to respond to the needs of victims of domestic violence," she said. "I am also disappointed that, yet again, provisions to alleviate the economic factors that keep victims in abusive relationships have not been included."

The best and worst speeches may be in the ear of the listener, and the study noted that President Obama's 2012 State of the Union address was judged by other researchers to rank at the eighth-grade level for the third year in a row.

As for those high-powered words from the Scholastic Assessment Test, memorized and recited by legions of high schoolers, they go virtually unspoken in Congress.

Of the 100 words on SAT preparation study lists, 14 are missing entirely from the Congressional Record for this Congress ? notably "florid," "hackneyed," "ostentatious" and "querulous."

The most-used SAT word ? "compromise" ? was said the most by Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the majority leader, who is fond of declaring, "Legislation is the art of compromise."

But in this partisan environment, as the study noted, even saying the word 142 times "does not make it so."

lisa.mascaro@latimes.com

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Terps women fall to Northwestern, 9-7, in NCAA lacrosse semifinal

STONY BROOK, N.Y.?

It wasn?t for the national championship this time, but the Maryland and Northwestern women?s lacrosse teams staged another classic NCAAtournament showdown Friday night at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium.

The two traded national titles the last two years, but this time, defending champion Northwestern earned only a trip to the title game by slipping past the Terrapins, 9-7, in the semifinal.

Taylor Thornton, one of five finalists for the Tewaaraton Award , scored the eventual game winner to give No. 2 Northwestern an 8-6 lead with 16:19 to go and added an insurance goal with 1:26 left.

Shannon Smith, the 2011 Tewaaraton winner, who had four goals in last year?s 8-7 title-game win over the Terrapins, didn?t score a goal but dished out four assists. Wildcats goalie Brianne LoManto made only five saves but made point-blank stops against Terps attackers Kristy Black and Katie Schwarzmann to help hold Maryland scoreless for the final 13:37.

The No. 3 Terrapins (19-4) got off to a quick start but struggled with possession during the second half, especially in a key stretch when the Wildcats scored four straight times. Northwestern dominated the draws in the second half winning seven of eight and finished with 13 of 18.

?Draws were really important,? Schwarzmann said, ?and credit to Northwestern. They did a great job coming up with those and really maintinaing possession when they had the ball. We tried to fight for those and we could have done a better job obviously, but when we had possession, we had a few too many turnovers and just couldn?t do what we needed to do.?

Northwestern (20-2) will meet No. 4 Syracuse for the national championship Sunday at 8 p.m. at LaValle Stadium. The Orange earned its first appearance in the final with an upset of No. 1 Florida in Friday night?s other semifinal, rallying from seven goals down to win 14-13 in double overtime.

The Wildcats, who resurrected their program in 2002 after nine years of club status, will be aiming for their seventh title in eight years against a Syracuse team they edged 11-9 in overtime early in the season.

The two most successful teams in NCAA women?s lacrosse history have met three straight times on Memorial Day weekend with the Terps winning the 2010 title and the Wildcats taking the title back last season. Between them, they have won 15 of the last 20 Division I titles. Maryland has 10 titles overall, including seven in a row.

The teams were tied at every point Friday until Maryland took a 6-4 lead on Schwarzmann?s free-position goal. The Wildcats never lost their poise.

?We?ve been in that position so many times this year,? Smith said, ?I knew it was going to come down to getting the draw control. We were running fine on offense. We were patient, looking for the open cutter. Every person that was in on the offense did a phenomenal job with cutting, keeping their defenders busy and allowing our offense to move.?

The Wildcats quickly turned the momentum and scored four straight times, the biggest run of the game. Smith fed Kara Mupo, Amanda Macaluso scored a free-position goal, Smith fed Lacey Vigmostad and Thorton made it an 8-6 lead on an unassisted goal.

Schwarzmann, also a Tewaaraton finalist, brought the Terps within one on a free-position goal with 13:37 to go.

Maryland had an excellent chance to tie when Kelly McPartland, on a free-position, opted to pass to Kristy Black rather than shoot. Black, open on the left side of the crease, had the angle but LoManto made the point-black stop with 11:53 to go and made another against Schwarzmann with 6:53 to go.

?One of the things I?ve learned throughout 10 years of playing goal is it?s not how many saves you have in a game sometimes, it?s when you have the saves,? LoManto said. ?We all want to make a lot of saves and, of course, you may not make every save you want, so you try to stay patient and confident and try to make those big saves.?

The Terps had enough trouble getting possesion, but they hurt themselves when they had to play two players down for two minutes, starting at the 4:34 mark after yellow cards on McPartland and on the Maryland bench. That helped the Wildcats scored their last goal and run out most of the rest of the time.

katherine.dunn@baltsun.com

Northwestern 4 5 -- 9

Maryland 5 2 -- 7

Goals: N?Russo 2, Thornton 2, Fitzgerald, Macaluso, Frank, Vimostad, Mupo; M?Schwarmann 3, Johnson, McPartland, Griffin, Black. Assists: N?Smith 4; M?Black 2. Saves: N?LoManto 5; M?Dipper 5.

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Biden says end to wars gives US new flexibility (The Arizona Republic)

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